ABSTRACT
The problem with modern territorial nationalism is that while it is the only acceptable form of sovereignty in the modern world, it is an inadequate basis of affective identification within the nation-state. Thus, the modern nation-state seeks to deploy the frequently older, extraterritorial narratives of racial and cultural community to serve its own needs. This essay will explore how, and with what difficulties, a territorially limited sovereignty, the early twentieth-century Chinese nation, sought to turn the energies and loyalties of deracinated transnational communities, the overseas Chinese, toward its interests. I will consider the efforts of three nationalist groups between 1900 and 1911: the late Qing imperial state, the constitutional monarchists and reformers led by Kang Youwei, and the republican revolutionaries led by Sun Yat-sen and others. Given that there are several important works on the history of Chinese nationalism among the overseas Chinese themselves, especially as it developed in Singapore, Malaya, and the United States (including Hawaii) (see especially Ma 1990; Yen 1976; and Huang 1993), I will not dwell on that topic. My goal is to probe the discursive and cultural means that the mainland nationalist groups utilized to mobilize the emigrants to the national cause.
